“Ruddy Hell, it’s Soft Cell”. Not my words but those of pundit stroke DJ, Alan Partridge. Whilst we may not be in the ball park of Norfolk based local radio, the excitement levels are reaching similar heights. Championship football in London is stunning at present. Our own Brentford are on the verge of the play offs with three games left to reel in four points. Millwall are in that zone as things stand. Friday night sees them take on a Fulham team looking to bounce back from last weekend’s devastating denouement and retake an ‘automatic’ position. Then there’s QPR. Languishing in 15th. Oh well. As Meatloaf almost sang, “Three out of four ain’t bad”.
Cliche alert: This weekend’s action promises to be hotter than the current climate. A seasonal sizzler of a fixture list that sees Brentford at home in a second, successive West London derby. This time QPR are the visitors. Quarter Pound of Rubbish as even a friend who’s an Arsenal fan referred to them today.
Childish? Yes. Of course. But it put a smile on my face to know that a schoolyard term from my own childhood in the seventies is still doing the rounds, some forty years later.
We digress though. Last weekend at Fulham showed just how exciting football can get. What a moment from Neal Maupay to wrap up a deserved point. Indeed, I’m still not sure how we missed out on all three in that one. But for the referee. And if you’d like to read more… the matchday programme, BEES, has the considered thought on that fame. And also those blinkin’ clappers.

BEES – worth it just for the cover alone
Frankly, the visit of QPR couldn’t come at a better time. Not because of their poor placing and form. Not because of rent-a-quote manager Ian Holloway. Not because of their absent players. And not because of our play-off dreams. Quite the opposite. The last thing we need is that playing on our minds. Just look at Derby County who are now entering their traditional ‘choke’ period.
Instead, it is the perfect opportunity to continue some wonderful runs of form. Both in the league and against our visitors from Loftus Road. Indeed, the mauling administered at Griffin Park last season was about as good as it got. A brutal demolition that, if you are looking for an appropriate analogy, would have been stopped within a few rounds had it been a boxing match. The hapless hoops sent back to their corner and Buzzette’s arm raised proudly into the sky by the referee.
We don’t need to think about the chance of ghosting into the top six when there is local pride to play for. And with no respect to Fulham, it’s all about Brentford and QPR when it comes to being kings of West London Championship football. Winning this one is the absolute priority for the weekend. Kings of West London. Kings of the 237 derby. Proving Holloway wrong. Again. Anything table related will be a consequential bonus. Other results going our way something that I’ll happily take, once our own dust has settled. Hey, I don’t even know who Birminghan City are losing to this weekend – that’s how fixed I am on this one.
We all know what it means. What the history is. What chance you have of getting a ticket (slim to none, although do try – just in case). There’s not much I can add, suffice to say that there won’t be much sleep in our house tonight. And not because of the heat. Simply put, I can’t wait for this one.

Results at home to QPR have been wonderful in recent seasons
That said, I would crave your indulgence for two bits of extra-curricular activity. Firstly, if anybody has any Panini World Cup swaps then I will be outside The Hive at half time with a very excited four year old son. Definitely he will definitely be looking to help fill in what is definitely his World Cup sticker book. If anyone can help out or is looking for Antoine Greizmann (amongst others), then that’ll be the time and place.
Secondly, Beesotted. Their quite wonderful ‘Pride of West London’ podcast is up for Listener’s choice at the British Podcast Awards. I’ve no doubt Dave, Billy and the rest of the team would appreciate your vote. Certainly, anyone who has listened to this before will know they absolutely deserve it. You can find the link here.
For now though, it’s all about 3pm on Saturday. See you there (with stickers).
Nick Bruzon
The top talking points from the World Cup draw (and the small matter of Brentford v Fulham).
2 DecBrentford v Fulham. Derby day pt.2. It must be rare for a local game to have been less under the spotlight during the build up as this one. First up, we’ve had the residual bad taste of Monday night’s 2-2 with QPR. Not so much the result as Ian Holloway doing that desperate back pedal after slagging off his own supporters for ‘sneaking out’. And then there was the small matter of yesterday’s World Cup draw for Russia 2018.
We’ll start with Fulham. A win will take Brentford above the Cottagers in the league table and, subject to other results, into the top half of the Championship. I can only call this one as three points for the Bees. Lasse Vibe had two wonderful finishes against the not so super hoops , with the assist from Romaine for the second being something quite special. Sergio Canos showed his class, starting a game for the first time in I don’t know how long. Expect more of the same. Just perhaps, not, the 93rd and 94th minutes.
And if you’d like to read more…. there’s talk about both games in the ‘Park Life’ column that appears in today’s match day programme. Whilst I’d crave your indulgence for that self-promotion it is mentioned more for a sledge hammer like unsubtle link to, erm, today’s match day programme. (#seamless).
With this edition highlighting the ‘Rainbow laces’ campaign (and on that subject, don’t forget to check out the Beesotted podcast this week – below), cover star is none other than Andreas Bjelland. Danish International Andreas Bjelland. The World Cup’s Andreas Bjelland.
This week’s cover star…
Yesterday’s draw saw England line up against Belgium, Panama and Tunisia. A kinder draw you couldn’t have asked for, on paper. Moreso when the two teams who get through will play one of Poland , Senegal, Colombia or Japan in the last 16. On paper, as kind a start as one could hope for. On paper…..
Yet for Andreas, things are slightly different. Whilst there doesn’t seem to be an out and out ‘group of death’, Denmark won’t have it easy agasint France, Austrlia and Peru in Group C. Mind you, I’m sure they’ll all be thinking the same about Denmark in group that Nick Harris ( @sportingintel on Twitter) has noted is the rankings tightest.
Also clear is what Harris declares to be “A clear Group of Life – the Group A of hosts Russia”. I would also accept: ‘The Group of dull’
Along with the hosts it is a pool that features Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Uruguay. Luck of the draw is, indeed, a wonderful and fortuitous thing.
Yet it is a group that also gives us our first chance of that World Cup staple: “For those of you just coming in from work, the score is….. “ Expect that at about 5.17pm on Thursday 14th June during the opening a game. A 4pm kick off between Russia and Saudi Arabia.
That opener is, likewise, a game you can expect to see on ITV. Certainly, if the BBC ‘live updates’ are to be believed.
And talking of the BBC (Nurse, bring me the industrial crowbar) Phil Neville may have been England’s dullest pundit at France 2014 but there was no doubt he was on form during the draw. Robbie Savage sticking his head above the parapet and getting immediately slapped down.
Savage and Neville weren’t the only pundits getting involved. Anybody worth their salt had an opinion. And also Ian Moose. Sadly, there was to be no picture of him and ‘My good friend, Vladimir Putin.’ (Something Diego Maradona did achieve, for the record). Instead, the best Talk Sport’s ‘finest’ could do in that ongoing quest to blow his own trumpet was a snap with Carlos Valderrama.
Other things to look out for will be FIFA no doubt calling the first knockout stage ‘The round of 16’. Like the Fake Olympic terms : Team GB and ‘to medal’ (see also: Wednesday’s column – I’m still thankful for the chance to vent) something that is both wrong and which has been allowed to seep into popular parlance over the last few events. It’s actually the Last 16. I would also accept: The second round.
Have selfie stick, will travel. Brentford fan Billy Grant will be one of many Bees in attendance. He’s already confirmed he will be in attendance. His roving reports providing an wonderful flavour of what happened last time out in France – the great and the not so. Stan Collymore, he ain’t. Expect more of the same this time around (all being well, the great) .
Still, all that’s to come. There’s over six months until we start sticking wall charts to fridges, whip ourselves into a lather of excitement before an eventual quarter final capitulation for England.
Until then, here’s to forgetting about QPR on Monday. There’s a West London derby to win. Fulham are on the way over to Griffin Park. And I can’t wait.
See you there.
And if you need some more listening before kick off, here’s the link to that Beesotted podcast….
Nick Bruzon
Tags: 2018, Andreas Bjelland, BBC, Bees, Beesotted, Billy Grant, blog, Brentford, Brentford blog, Brentford FC, Bruzon, Championship, commentary, Dean Smith, death, Derby, draw, England, football, Fulham, group, Home, Ian, Ian Abrahams, Ian Holloway, laces, Lasse Vibe, media, Moose, news, newsnow, Nick, now, podcast, programme, QPR, Queens Park Rangers, radio, rainbow, Romaine Sawyers, Russia, Sergi Canos, Sky bet Championship, World Cup